BCSO deputy found dead had tested positive for the coronavirus

Timothy De La Fuente, a 27-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, died Thursday.

Timothy De La Fuente, a 27-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, died Thursday.

Photo: Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Photo: Bexar County Sheriff's Office

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Timothy De La Fuente, a 27-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, died Thursday.

Timothy De La Fuente, a 27-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, died Thursday.

Photo: Bexar County Sheriff's Office

BCSO deputy found dead had tested positive for the coronavirus

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A detention deputy with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office who was found dead Thursday had recently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

Timothy De La Fuente, a 27-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, was tested Tuesday for the highly contagious virus.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said that while the Medical Examiner's Office has yet to declare an official cause, he is considering it an on-duty death.

"I have every intention of laying him to rest with all the honor that's due someone in that situation," Salazar said. "We're going to lay him to rest with full honors."

De La Fuente, 53, reported to work Tuesday with no symptoms, Salazar said. He was tested that day as part of the jail's recent mass testing efforts, which have uncovered numerous asymptomatic cases of the virus. As of Thursday, 129 inmates and 40 deputies have tested positive.

On Wednesday, De La Fuente called in sick. He stayed home again Thursday and was due to seek private medical care later that day. He excused himself to use the restroom and his wife found him deceased at their North Side home.

Metro Health did not have a chance to notify him of his positive coronavirus test before he died, Salazar said. The San Antonio Fire Department transported him with full honors to the Medical Examiner's Office, where an autopsy was to be performed Thursday.

De La Fuente had underlying health conditions, according to Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. It isn’t clear where De La Fuente contracted the virus, Wolff said, but it’s possible he caught it at the jail.

Salazar noted that De La Fuente had been assaulted by an inmate about three years ago. He still had a scar from where the inmate had broken a mop handle over his head.

The sheriff said he was at De La Fuente's bedside at the hospital that day. The deputy was laughing and joking and made Salazar take a selfie with him. Assigned to working the front door while he recovered from his injuries, he shook Salazar's hand every time the sheriff entered the building.

"Always very respectful and always very eager to say hello," Salazar said of De La Fuente.